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Anecdata: of the 36 projects (not including projects that failed to get backing) I have backed in the past 8 years: - 4 were outright scams (only 1 was caught

Anecdata: of the 36 projects (not including projects that failed to get backing) I have backed in the past 8 years: - 4 were outright scams (only 1 was caught and cancelled by KS) - 32 delivered, practically all were very delayed, sometimes by years. - Of the 32, most were as promised, but some turned out useless - At least half I regretted buying One thing that was very apparent (here as IRL) is that software projects runs WAY over the schedule. I have since completely stopped supporting Kickstarter, unless I'm backing people who I already know of and who has a reputation at stake. There's way too much fraud and useless crap (but "World First Ultimate Crap"). Finally, it's not _all_ bad. The highlights: Klauf Light Bar (use them daily), Exploding Kittens (have played a few times), THIMBLEWEED PARK (love it), [Pocket]Chip, Nebia Shower, Kuroi Hana Knife Collection (use daily), Stingray Non-stick pan (use daily. Note, a 2nd campaign from the Kuroi Hana Knife people).

elliekelly 6y ago
I’m shocked you actually got 32 of 36 items regardless of the quality. I would have guessed a much lower number of deliveries.
smcleod 6y ago
I'm at: - Total: 13 - Scams: 3 - Not delivered: 4 - Delivered on time: 0 - Delivered with <3 month delay: 1 - Delivered with <1 year delay: 4 - Delivered with >1 year delay: 1
thomas 6y ago
My findings largely reflect this, but I have to admit that I stopped after about 10 projects. Now I will no longer do a KS, regardless of the product, or the founder, or the price. I'll just wait, pay full price later if it's worth it, and save myself the frustration and multiple "regrettable delay" notes.
- FullyFunctional 6y ago
  Yes this. It took me too long to realize that the “discount” was rarely worth the risk and opportunity cost. KS is really bad, but there are many other crowd sourcing efforts that are worth backing which wouldn’t be available otherwise. I have backed ~ 4 different FPGA dev board campaigns (not on KS). EDIT: for example https://groupgets.com/campaigns/868-butterstick https://groupgets.com/campaigns/868-butterstick
bbarn 6y ago
I used to be super into my cooking knives, but after a decade of using everything from rubber handled target chef knives to 300+$ japanese art-work knives, I've learned that it's better to buy a 40 dollar chef knife every 3 years than a 200$ one every... 3 years.
- mypalmike 6y ago
  This is meandering pretty far off topic but... Why do you need a new chef's knife every 3 years? I've had my reasonably-priced Victorinox for probably a decade. With routine sharpening using quality stones (they cost more than the knife), I don't see needing to replace it in the next decade.
  - bbarn 6y ago
    Yeah, If it gets babied and my wife never touched it. The reality is the tip is likely to get chipped, she'll forget it's the nice one and toss it in the dishwasher, etc., and it'll wear out.
g051051 6y ago
Cool idea, let's see how I did: - 41 projects backed - 5 unsuccessful - 5 I cancelled - 1 outright scam - 1 not delivered - 27 delivered - 2 still pending, including SpaceVenture at 9 years. Of the 27 delivered - 15 video games or software. Most were delayed, but were generally considered excellent when they were finally delivered. - 4 physical objects that wound up being just OK. (Coffee Joules, Brimstone Card Deck, Fidget Cube, Thimble Slide) - 8 media (books or cds) that I mostly really liked
shib71 6y ago
I've backed quite a few projects (150), so I did a review to look for patterns. * 33 software/game projects * 23 board game projects * 20 "thing" projects (i.e. requiring manufacturing) * 60 rpg material projects (adventures, systems, supplements, etc) * 14 other media I initially backed quick a few software and "thing" projects. But both seem to be prone to unexpected setbacks, delivering late or never. My only outright scam was a "thing", but quite a few of these have gone silent. Transparency in these projects was never great, but maybe that has improved since I stopped backing them? Of the board games: I enjoyed half and still have 3. Honestly, this seems to be in line with the games I try in general. Kickstarter has practically become an official business model for the industry, with established companies using it regularly. The result is that there is a high standard even for amateur projects in terms of understanding the game they're making, having artists lined up, having reasonable ideas of manufacturing/shipping costs and delays, posting regular updates, etc. Currently I mostly back RPG books. They're often useful and inspiring for my own games and I've found quite a few systems that I'm keen to try (fingers crossed, 2021 will let that happen). About half of these result in a product I like and keep, and for the rest... Almost everyone running these projects is an RPG nerd like me, looking for an excuse to take their crazy idea as far as they can. I can get behind that. Transparency on these projects has usually been very good. On lateness: every project has been late, except the ones that were basically just a preorder for something already in progress. The best you can hope for is regular updates that are transparent about progress and setbacks.

elliekelly 6y ago

I’m shocked you actually got 32 of 36 items regardless of the quality. I would have guessed a much lower number of deliveries.

smcleod 6y ago

I'm at: - Total: 13 - Scams: 3 - Not delivered: 4 - Delivered on time: 0 - Delivered with <3 month delay: 1 - Delivered with <1 year delay: 4 - Delivered with >1 year delay: 1

thomas 6y ago

My findings largely reflect this, but I have to admit that I stopped after about 10 projects. Now I will no longer do a KS, regardless of the product, or the founder, or the price. I'll just wait, pay full price later if it's worth it, and save myself the frustration and multiple "regrettable delay" notes.

FullyFunctional 6y ago
Yes this. It took me too long to realize that the “discount” was rarely worth the risk and opportunity cost. KS is really bad, but there are many other crowd sourcing efforts that are worth backing which wouldn’t be available otherwise. I have backed ~ 4 different FPGA dev board campaigns (not on KS). EDIT: for example https://groupgets.com/campaigns/868-butterstick https://groupgets.com/campaigns/868-butterstick

bbarn 6y ago

I used to be super into my cooking knives, but after a decade of using everything from rubber handled target chef knives to 300+$ japanese art-work knives, I've learned that it's better to buy a 40 dollar chef knife every 3 years than a 200$ one every... 3 years.

mypalmike 6y ago
This is meandering pretty far off topic but... Why do you need a new chef's knife every 3 years? I've had my reasonably-priced Victorinox for probably a decade. With routine sharpening using quality stones (they cost more than the knife), I don't see needing to replace it in the next decade.
- bbarn 6y ago
  Yeah, If it gets babied and my wife never touched it. The reality is the tip is likely to get chipped, she'll forget it's the nice one and toss it in the dishwasher, etc., and it'll wear out.

g051051 6y ago

Cool idea, let's see how I did: - 41 projects backed - 5 unsuccessful - 5 I cancelled - 1 outright scam - 1 not delivered - 27 delivered - 2 still pending, including SpaceVenture at 9 years. Of the 27 delivered - 15 video games or software. Most were delayed, but were generally considered excellent when they were finally delivered. - 4 physical objects that wound up being just OK. (Coffee Joules, Brimstone Card Deck, Fidget Cube, Thimble Slide) - 8 media (books or cds) that I mostly really liked

shib71 6y ago

I've backed quite a few projects (150), so I did a review to look for patterns. * 33 software/game projects * 23 board game projects * 20 "thing" projects (i.e. requiring manufacturing) * 60 rpg material projects (adventures, systems, supplements, etc) * 14 other media I initially backed quick a few software and "thing" projects. But both seem to be prone to unexpected setbacks, delivering late or never. My only outright scam was a "thing", but quite a few of these have gone silent. Transparency in these projects was never great, but maybe that has improved since I stopped backing them? Of the board games: I enjoyed half and still have 3. Honestly, this seems to be in line with the games I try in general. Kickstarter has practically become an official business model for the industry, with established companies using it regularly. The result is that there is a high standard even for amateur projects in terms of understanding the game they're making, having artists lined up, having reasonable ideas of manufacturing/shipping costs and delays, posting regular updates, etc. Currently I mostly back RPG books. They're often useful and inspiring for my own games and I've found quite a few systems that I'm keen to try (fingers crossed, 2021 will let that happen). About half of these result in a product I like and keep, and for the rest... Almost everyone running these projects is an RPG nerd like me, looking for an excuse to take their crazy idea as far as they can. I can get behind that. Transparency on these projects has usually been very good. On lateness: every project has been late, except the ones that were basically just a preorder for something already in progress. The best you can hope for is regular updates that are transparent about progress and setbacks.